The room grew cold, thick with the smell of blood, uncomfortably quiet except for the sound of blood hitting the stone floor.

  The mage stood motionless, staring at the broken bodies of his once-invincible party.

  His clothes and hands were drenched as he sank to the ground, clutching the one who had stood closest to him.

  Forty years of fighting, laughter, and trust — gone in a single moment.

  Their killer walked away without looking back.

  The silence shattered beneath an ear-piercing scream as the mage cried out a single name into the empty air.

  "BULDURSMITH!"

  That was the last time the world heard of the legendary mage.

  In the distance, a hooded figure was barely seen with a shimmering mirage blurring his appearance.

  Approaching the town, the figure stumbled across a sign.

  Welcome to Caldur. Festival on sundown today.

  The figure stood there, staring at it for a good minute before stepping into the village.

  Walking through the town, he could feel the cold stares of all the villagers on him, knowing his presence was breaking their comfort.

  Slowly, with his head down, he continued walking until he got to a hotel,

  "One room for one night, please,"

  The store clerk responded,

  "15, thanks."

  The figure's voice was deep and uncomfortable but as long as the clerk got his money in the end he didn't care.

  Waiting until sundown he ordered some light refreshments and sat alone, silently on the bed.

  Before evening the town was already celebrating, cheering each other on while the music began playing.

  With it he decided to finally step out of the building and see if he could connect to anyone.

  Despite the sun still being out barely, the town was lit up and the town's residents were seen already dancing to the music, kids lining up at food stalls to get something to eat, people laughing and enjoying themselves, almost making the man let out a tear.

  While walking around, a man walked into him apologising instantly but reaching his hand down into the figure's pocket, before he could steal anything the figure grabbed his wrist and heard a slight crack.

  The man walked away with a snapped wrist quicker than he did approaching the man.

  Walking towards the dancers, the outsider witnesses a young girl, around 20, sidelined from the dance with her head on her knees.

  He reached his hand out to the girl and asked in a seemingly innocent way,

  "Care for a dance",

  Despite making everyone else feel uncomfortable and not being able to see his face, the girl smiles and happily accepts grabbing his hand.

  They get themselves into a dancing position and just as the next song plays begin, moving with the beat, however they do position themselves away from the other dancers.

  Just as they are getting used to each other's company the girl begins asking him many questions,

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "You're not from around here are you, I saw you have a mages staff on your back, you wouldn't happen to be the legendary mage would you?"

  The man, now knowing he's been found out decides to come clean,

  "Yes I am, the mage from two hundred years ago".

  The girl, after the mage reveals himself jumps straight into his chest, hugging him tightly as if relieved of something,

  "Oh thank god, thank you",

  The mage, confused but hopeful hugs her and continues dancing, after realising what she did, she gets flustered and quickly pushes herself away from him apologising.

  "So what brings you here anyway?"

  The mage puts his head down, hesitant to answer but raises his head and responds to her,

  "I'm on a mission to find new allies, now why were you so excited that I had returned?"

  The girl looks away responding to him,

  "Ever since you disappeared the world has just been in ruin, cities have been at war with each other fighting for power, crime rates have risen and trust has just vanished, that's what my Mum and Dad said at least, oh right, my name is Hannah, sorry for not introducing myself sooner"

  The mage and Hannah continue dancing until the music stops where they then sit back down where Hannah was before,

  "I do have one request though"

  Hannah began to sound sad while also looking down,

  "My brother, I loved him so very much, he left our village years ago trying to help an allying city win their war, he was our most dangerous fighter, the army he was with however was defeated and my brother was taken away, I've been waiting for some sort of miracle to happen and now that you're here, I have one selfish request. Can you please find and save my brother?"

  Hannah began tearing up looking at the mage hoping he would accept,

  "I'll save your brother on one condition"

  Hannah stopped tearing up eagerly waiting for his condition,

  "I'll help find your brother if you agree to be my ally, venture further than this village"

  She wiped the tears off her face grabbed his hand and crashed her head into his chest,

  "Thank you so very much, his name is Jacob, I will do everything in my power to help you out."

  Hannah and the mage continued to talk as the night went by sharing their experiences, laughing and enjoying each other's company.

  The mage eventually feels comfortable enough to share how his party died,

  "Buldursmith, the king of warlocks, slaughtered all my comrades, all in front of my eyes, I tried to save them but their injuries were too severe and they died in my arms"

  Just as he finished talking about it a tear fell down his face.

  "I'm so sorry"

  Hannah tried to comfort him holding his hand as he wiped the tear away,

  "As well as allies, I'm also trying to find a new experience, I want to experience love"

  The mage looks up at the sky as the towns people begin packing everything up and going home.

  "Well, I'm going to bed, if you're coming with me you should also get going, we leave here dawn tomorrow",

  With that, Hannah and the mage part ways and go to bed.

  Despite buying a room for the night the mage doesn't sleep, instead sits motionless on his bed repeating the traumatic event from two hundred years ago, over and over in his head.

  Just as he begins to get ready to continue his journey with Hannah he smells smoke, he rushes to the counter of the building he's in to witness blood everywhere, the shop clerk had been killed.

  The mage bolts out of the building to see absolute hell, the villagers are screaming in pain, all the buildings are on fire, every single person the mage saw at the festival was now gone.

  He begins panicking, running around the town, looking where buildings had been burnt to a crisp trying to find Hannah.

  He gets to the final building and sees her, cut marks everywhere, buried under burnt wood, eyes open but lifeless.

  Just then the air around the mage thickens, his breathing gets heavy and his face expressionless, as he stares at her dead body, memories of the past come flooding back to him, the screams of the villagers, the smell of smoke and blood, everyone panicking essentially makes the mage break again.

  As the buildings burn, the people continue yelling and begging, some running in fear, the mage with his head down calmly walks slowly towards Hannah, he chucked the burnt debris off Hannah and picks her up.

  Using his magic he created a hole in the ground, ever so carefully placing Hannah's body in it and closing it.

  He looks back to see a group of at least fifteen people using Molotovs to burn the buildings, bodies almost burying their feet, even recognising one of them as the guy who tried robbing him earlier.

  Using his magic he instantly puts out the fires and grabs the attention of every gang member, the robber grew a demonic looking smile and pointed towards the mage signalling them to kill him.

  In the blink of an eye the mage flinches his finger and every gang member is cut in half and killed instantly.

  The mage stands in place, motionless, expressionless and even more traumatised, every person in the village was dead, the gang included, the village itself was destroyed and the only thing that remained was the mage and his staff.

  The mage stood there thinking to himself what to do, how to do it and when. Then he remembers the reason he went on this journey, it was to find peace and connection. He was still on that journey, he was just back at square one.

  That's when he remembered Hannah's request, his next mission is to find Jacob and bring him back alive and safe.

  Despite getting PTSD, he continued forward, after all they didn't call him the legendary mage for nothing.

  Just as the mage set off, back in the village, the man who had attempted to rob the mage flinched his finger the slightest little bit.